Spelling suggestions: "subject:"eenglish."" "subject:"swedishenglish.""
151 |
Gender on the frontline : a comparative study of the female voice in selected plays of Athol Fugard and Zakes Mda.Lombardozzi, Letizia Maria. January 2002 (has links)
It can be argued that critical scholarship has not satisfactorily commented on the portrayal of
women in South African theatre by male playwrights. This dissertation will examine the
presentation of the female voice in the selected plays of two playwrights, namely Athol Fugard and
Zakes Mda, coming from different socio-historical and cultural backgrounds. This comparative
study will re-interrogate the selected representative texts from a feminist perspective, and will
compare Fugard's subversive distrust of the female voice juxtaposed against Mda's refreshing
celebration of the female presence in the selected plays.
Fugard and Mda's female characters are generally seen by their readers, audiences and critics such
as Andrew Hom, Marcia Blumberg and Dennis Walder as fundamentally vital, irrepressible and
certainly more admirable than their male counterparts, as it is ultimately their quest for symbiosis
and affirmation of the self which precludes any passive spectatorship on the part of the audience.
However, paradoxically and ironically, it is Fugard, writing from a relatively privileged white male
position, who consistently places his female characters in positions where their distinct inner
strength is continually undermined. Despite their cognitive ability to engage with their situation,
they are seldom permitted to triumph over the bleakness of their lives, but in fact are rendered
emotionally impotent in the face of insurmountable existential isolation. Always situated within
an interdependent relationship absent of hope and love, Fugard's women characters are never
allowed to forget the role they are expected to assume in a patriarchal society rife with political and
racial overtones. This very impasse in which they are placed by Fugard generally resonates
strongly with the audience, who can identify or empathise with the women, but who are not
afforded an imaginative escape by Fugard.
Mda's female characters are created and portrayed within a similar political and universal system
which perpetuates their exclusion from power and keeps them in servitude. However, unlike the
ultimately silenced women in Fugard' splays, Mda, writing partly from a historically marginalised
position himself, empowers his female characters with the freedom to confront and articulate their
emotions and perceptions. His female characters are inscribed in a multiplicity of social positions,
within which they most often find a solution to their problems and demand an outcome which is
not only determined by outsiders, but by their own inner strength. Although they are less fettered
by class and ideological constraints, they are however more naively drawn than Fugard's female
characters. Whilst Fugard' s female characters in the selected plays are, without exception, left on
the periphery of the play as the ultimate victims of their inescapable circumstances, the female
characters created by Mda more often than not dominate the stage by virtue of their indomitable
resilience, rather than resignation.
This dissertation will also examine Fugard and Mda's presentation of their female characters as
wholly a male's construct, set in a political context which subtextually interrogates race and
gender. The implied assumption concerning the authority of the male writer over women's
narratives will also therefore be questioned. Reference to Fugard and Mda's own personal
histories as well as their other non-fictional writing will be seen as relevant in this regard.
In conclusion, this dissertation will focus on the artificially imposed passivity of Fugard' s confined
and limited female characters, and will compare this to Mda's empowerment of his female
characters through critical awareness. The provocative issues of voice and violence as agency in
both Fugard and Mda's discourse will be viewed, in particular, from within an apartheid system
of governance. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2002.
|
152 |
Mothers, men and mind control : an analysis of Sheri S. Tepper's novels : Grass and The frescoMuller, Martina 12 1900 (has links)
Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Sheri S. Tepper, one of the most prolific feminist science fiction writers, uses her novels to address humanity‟s ignorance about, and indifference towards, various social, gender and environmental issues, and in so doing, she attempts to rectify these issues by creating an awareness of them. Her novels generally focus on four main issues: motherhood, both as ideology and experience; the essentialized nature and acceptance of the superiority of masculinity; the influence of religions, traditions and ideologies; and an ever-increasing concern for environmental preservation. These issues are all interlinked in her novels. Though some of her works have received critical attention, most notably The Gate to Women’s Country (1988) and Gibbon’s Decline and Fall (1996), most have received little. I will present a critical analysis of Tepper‟s Grass (1989) – a novel which has received some critical attention – and The Fresco (2000) – a novel which has received very little critical attention. Although these novels deal with the same issues, they do so in different ways: Grass is a much more layered critique of modern society, whereas The Fresco is a rather blatant critique and the passionate voice of its author filters through more prominently than in Grass. I will be examining Tepper‟s portrayal of motherhood, masculinity and the influence of ideologies, religions and traditions in both of these novels. Although there will not be a section devoted to Tepper‟s environmental views, these will be highlighted within the other sections. Tepper ultimately stands for women‟s rights to opt for motherhood as a free choice. She also insists that ideologies, religions and traditions – society‟s oppressive straitjackets – should adapt to modernity, and that the acceptance of masculinity as the dominant gender be destabilized. Rectifying these problems, in Tepper‟s view, would also lead to the preservation of the environment for future generations. In my conclusion I address the most frequent critique directed against Tepper‟s work, namely that her novels are repetitive with regard to thematic content, by suggesting that her work is repetitive because she feels the need to reiterate the same issues in her novels, to indicate that the same societal problems of the past are still prevalent. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sheri S. Teper, een van die vernaamste feminis-wetenskapfisksie skryfsters, gebruik haar romans om die mensdom se onkunde oor, en onverskilligheid teenoor, verskeie sosiale-, geslags- en omgewingskwessies aan te spreek in „n poging om hierdie kwessies op te los deur mense meer bewus te maak van die kwessies. Haar romans fokus gewoonlik op vier hoof kwessies wat aan mekaar verbind is: moederskap, beide as ideologiese en fisiese ervaring; die genoodsaakte aanvaarding van manlikheid as die dominante geslag; die invloed van gelowe, tradisies, en ideologieë op die samelewing; en „n toenemende besorgheid oor die bewaring van die omgewing. Alhoewel sommige van haar romans kritiese aandag ontvang het, in besonder The Gate to Women’s Country (1988) en Gibbon’s Decline and Fall (1996), het die meeste baie min kritiese aandag ontvang. Ek beoog dus om twee van Tepper se romans, Grass (1989) en The Fresco (2000), krities te ontleed. Alhoewel Grass ietwat meer kritiese aandag ontvang het, het The Fresco byna geen kritiese aandag ontvang nie. Beide die romans spreek dieselfde kwessies aan, maar in verskillende maniere: Grass is a baie meer subtiele kritiek van die moderne samelewing, terwyl The Fresco „n baie meer flagrante kritiek is en die passievolle stem van die outeur is baie meer opmerklik in diè roman. Ek beoog om Tepper se uitbeelding van moederskap, manlikheid en die invloed van ideologieë, gelowe en tradisies in beide hierdie romans ondersoek. Hoewel daar nie „n spesifieke seksie gaan wees wat opgedra is aan die ondersoek van Tepper se omgewingsboodskap nie, sal dit tog uitgelig word in ander seksies. Daar sal gewys word dat Tepper vir die regte van vroue staan om moederskap vrylik te kan kies. Sy beveel ook aan dat dat ideologieë, gelowe en tradisies moet aan pas by die vereistes van moderne samelewing, en dat die aanvaarding van manlikheid as die dominante geslag omgekeer moet word. Deur hierdie probleme reg te maak, in Tepper se opinie, sal dit lei tot die bewaring van die omgewing vir toekomstige generasies. In my gevolgtrekking spreek ek een van die algemeenste kritieke teen Tepper se romans aan, naamlik dat die tematiese inhoud herhalend is. Ek voel dat die werklike probleem is dat Tepper dit nodig ag om dieselfde kwessies uit te beeld, aangesien dit aan dui dat probleme van die verlede steeds voorkom in die huidige samelewing.
|
153 |
Alternative afterlives : secular expeditions to the undiscovered countryAdriaanse, Jaco Hennig 03 1900 (has links)
Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis investigates texts which are argued to construct secular imaginings of the afterlife. As
such my argument is built around the way in which these texts engage with death, while
simultaneously engaging with the religious concepts which have come to give shape to the
afterlife in an increasingly secular West. The texts included are: Captain Stormfield’s Visit to
Heaven (1907), Mark Twain’s unfinished reimagining of Christian salvation; Kneller’s Happy
Campers (1998) by Etgar Keret, its filmic adaptation Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006), as well
as the Norwegian film A Bothersome Man (2006), which all strip the afterlife of its traditional
furnishings; Philip Pullman’s acclaimed His Dark Materials trilogy (1995, 1997, 2000) in which
he wages a fictional war with the foundations of Western religious tradition; and finally William
Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984) and Feersum Endjinn (1994) by Iain M. Banks, two science
fiction texts which speculate on the afterlife of the future.
These texts are so chosen and arranged to create a logical progression of secular projects, each
subsequent afterlife reflecting a more extensive and substantial distantiation from religious
tradition. Twain’s text utilises a secularising satire of heaven, and draws attention to the
irrational notions which pervade this concept. In the process, however, it embarks on the utopian
endeavour of reconstructing and improving the Christian afterlife of salvation. In Chapter 3, the
narratives under investigation discard the surface details of religious afterlives, and reimagine the
hereafter against a contemporary backdrop. I argue that they conform, in several significant
ways, to the mode of magical realism. Furthermore, despite their disinclination for evident
religiosity, these texts nevertheless find problematic encounters when they break this mode and
invoke higher authorities to intervene in the unfolding narratives. Chapter 4 focuses on Philip
Pullman’s high fantasy trilogy, which enacts open war between the secular and religious and
uses the afterlife as an integral part of the secularising agenda. With the literal battle lines drawn,
this text depicts a clear distinction between what is included as secular, or renounced as
religious. Finally, I turn to science fiction, where the notion of the virtual afterlife of the future
has come to be depicted, with its foundations in human technologies instead of divine agencies.
They rely on the ideology of posthumanism in a reimagining of the afterlife which constitutes a new apocalyptic tradition, a virtual kingdom of heaven populated by the virtual dead. Ultimately, I identify three broad, delineating aspects of secularity which become evident in
these narratives and the meaningful distinctions they draw between religious and secular
ideologies. I find further significance in the way in which these texts engage with the very
foundations on which fictions of the afterlife have been constructed. Throughout these texts, I
then find a secular approach to death as a developing alternative to that which has traditionally
been propagated by religion. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek tekste wat alternatiewe uitbeeldings van die hiernamaals bevat, wat dan
geargumenteer word dien as voorbeelde van sekulêre konsepsies van die nadoodse toestand. My
argument berus op die manier waarop hierdie tekste met die dood omgaan, asook die verskeie
maniere waarop hul tot die religieë van die Westerse wêreld spreek. Die tekste wat ondersoek
word sluit in: Mark Twain se Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven (1907), sy onvoltooide satire
van die Christelike hemel; Kneller’s Happy Campers deur Etgar Keret (1998), die verfilmde
weergawe daarvan, Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006), asook die Noorweegse film A Bothersome
Man (2006), waarin die hiernamaals uitgebeeld word as ‘n lewelose weergawe van kontemporêre
samelewing; Philip Pullman se fantasie trilogie His Dark Materials (1995, 1998, 2000) waarin
hy ‘n sekulêre oorlog teen die onderdrukkende magte van religie uitbeeld; en laastens die
wetenskap-fiksie verhale Neuromancer (1984), deur William Gibson, en Feersum Endjinn
(1994), deur Iain M. Banks, waarin die sekulêre, virtuele hiernamaals van die toekoms vervat
word.
Hierdie tekste is gekies en ook so gerangskik om ‘n duidelike sekulêre progressie te toon, met
elke opeenvolgende teks wat in ‘n meer omvattende wyse die tradisioneel religieuse konvensies
herdink of vervang met sekulêre alternatiewe. Twain se teks dryf die spot met die Christelike
idee van die hemel en om aandag te trek na die irrasionele ideologieë wat daarin vervat is. In die
proses poog Twain egter om te verbeter op die model en gevolglik ondervind die teks probleme
wat met die utopiese literatuur gepaard gaan. In hoofstuk 3 word die hiernamaals gestroop van
alle ooglopend religieuse verwysings en vervang met die ewigheid as ‘n kontemporêre landskap
deurtrek met morbiede leweloosheid. Ek argumenteer dat hulle op verskeie belangrike manier
ooreenstem met die genre van magiese realisme en dat, ten spyte van die pogings om religie te
vermy, die tekste steeds probleme teëkom wanneer hoër outoriteite by die verhale betrokke raak.
Hoofstuk 4 draai om Pullman se sekulêre oorlog wat daarop gemik is om die wêreld te
sekulariseer. Die duidelikheid waarmee die tekste onderskeid tref tussen die magte van religie en
die weerstand vanaf sekulariteit, maak dit insiggewend om te bepaal wat Pullman in ‘n sekulêre
wêreldbeeld in-of uitsluit. Laastens ondersoek ek wetenskap-fiksie, waarin die hiernamaals omskep is in ‘n toestand wat bereik word deur menslike tegnologiese vooruitgang, in stede van
religieuse toedoen. Hier word daar gesteun op die idees van posthumanisme, wat beteken dat
hierdie uitbeeldings van die ewigheid ‘n oorspronklike verwerking van religieuse apokaliptiese
verhale is, waar ‘n virtuele hemelse koninkryk geskep word vir die virtuele afgestorwenes.
Uiteindelik identifiseer ek drie breë ideologiese trekke wat deurgaans in al die tekste opduik, en
waarvolgens betekenisvolle onderskeid getref kan word om definisie te gee aan die begrip van
sekulariteit. Verder vind ek dat die sekulêre hiernamaals in ‘n unieke wyse met die dood
omgaan, en dat dit ‘n alternatiewe uitkyk gee op die fondasies waarop verhale van die
hiernamaals oorspronklik geskep is. Derhalwe argumenteer ek dat ‘n sekulêre wêreldbeeld ‘n
alternatiewe uitkyk op die dood ontwikkel, een wat die tradisies van religie terselfdertyd
inkorporeer en verwerp.
|
154 |
Interracial rape and the appropriation of the 'White mask': a psychoanalytical reading of Lewis Nkosi's Mating birdsFortuin, Bernard Nolen 03 1900 (has links)
Thesis (MA (English))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / This thesis argues that Ndi Sibiya, fictional writer and protagonist of the novel, Mating Birds by Lewis Nkosi develops a pathological obsession with Veronica Slater, a white woman for whose rape Sibiya is about to be executed. One of the many theorists that have commented on the effects of race on sexuality, particularly in colonized black people is Frantz Fanon. In Black Skin White Masks Fanon asks a question based on Freud’s question, “What does a woman want?” Fanon’s question is different in that he asks, what do black people want, which opens the way for a post-colonial psychoanalytical analysis of Ndi Sibiya. What he is concerned with in Black Skin White Masks is a post-colonial psycho-analytical evaluation of the state of being black in colonial societies. Nkosi does the same in his novel, whereas he deals with Apartheid South Africa as an extension of colonialism. Nkosi and Fanon are both addressing the broader psychological impact racially oppressive societies have on the black person’s psyche. Fanon in his psychoanalytical study of the black man from within the Freudian framework aims to save the man of colour from himself (9) by giving black people a warning that is not much different from the warning Sibiya’s father gives to him: do not lust after the white man’s woman.
|
155 |
The narcissistic masculinity of Travis Bickle : American "Reality" in Martin Scorsese's Taxi DriverPauw, Waldemar 12 1900 (has links)
Thesis (MA (English))—University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / In this thesis, I examine the way in which Martin Scorsese’s 1976 film Taxi Driver can be read as a critical investigation of post-World War II American masculinity. Drawing on Susan Faludi’s arguments regarding the post-World War II American ‘masculinity crisis’, I highlight specifically how Taxi Driver addresses American masculinity in the context of ideals of heroism, of the myth of the Wild West, of the Vietnam era, and of the increasingly influential role that the popular media play in shaping conceptions of masculinity. In the process I indicate that Taxi Driver exposes, and critiques, an association in modern American society between masculinity and what analysts have termed the ‘myth of regeneration through violence’.
|
156 |
De-demonising universality : transcultural dragons and the universal agent in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and David Eddings' The BelgariadSteenkamp, Janka 12 1900 (has links)
Thesis (MA (English))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation provides a reading of the fantasy novel series Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
and The Belgariad by David Eddings. In particular this dissertation endeavours to recuperate
a literary critical methodology rooted in Myth Criticism. Further, it seeks to demonstrate the
continued relevance and necessity of this form of criticism in our postmodern era and to
refute some of the commonplaces of postmodern critical theory, specifically the
poststructuralist scepticism towards the idea of universal truth and individual agency. Using
Jungian theory, myth critics ranging from Laurence Coupe to Joseph Campbell and
incorporating various postmodern theorists, like the contemporary Marxist theorist Terry
Eagleton, and fantasy critics like Brian Attebery and Ursula LeGuin, this dissertation aims to
give a well-rounded analysis of the merits of looking at fantasy as a legitimate field of literary
study. Moreover, this dissertation seeks to illustrate the fact that fantasy is capable of
informing readers’ interaction with the ‘real’ world and that this genre allows for insight into
identity formation in present day reality. The chief structure used to explore these claims is an
analysis of the Hero’s Journey. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: This dissertation provides a reading of the fantasy novel series Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
and The Belgariad by David Eddings. In particular this dissertation endeavours to recuperate
a literary critical methodology rooted in Myth Criticism. Further, it seeks to demonstrate the
continued relevance and necessity of this form of criticism in our postmodern era and to
refute some of the commonplaces of postmodern critical theory, specifically the
poststructuralist scepticism towards the idea of universal truth and individual agency. Using
Jungian theory, myth critics ranging from Laurence Coupe to Joseph Campbell and
incorporating various postmodern theorists, like the contemporary Marxist theorist Terry
Eagleton, and fantasy critics like Brian Attebery and Ursula LeGuin, this dissertation aims to
give a well-rounded analysis of the merits of looking at fantasy as a legitimate field of literary
study. Moreover, this dissertation seeks to illustrate the fact that fantasy is capable of
informing readers’ interaction with the ‘real’ world and that this genre allows for insight into
identity formation in present day reality. The chief structure used to explore these claims is an
analysis of the Hero’s Journey.
|
157 |
“The weight of my skeleton is my only honesty” : language and the speaking body in Marlene van Niekerk’s AgaatLevinrad, Ester 03 1900 (has links)
Thesis (MA (English))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis proposes a detailed study of the novel Agaat by South African author Marlene
van Niekerk (first published 2004). A particular focus throughout is on constructions of
identity and subjectivity, and the novel is considered as writing within and against both
the Realist tradition as well as the South African genre of the plaasroman and/or farm
novel. The translation of the novel into English by Michiel Heyns (published 2006) is
used as primary text, which furthermore raises questions of language and interpretation
already implicit in the narrative, questions which provide a compelling filter for reading
the novel in its entirety.
In the Introduction, I briefly delineate the novel’s storyline. This serves to introduce the
novel’s thematic concerns and outlines the linguistic complexities which emerge as a
result of the novel’s structure. An exposition on Realism in the novel follows, where I
suggest how a consideration of the Realist tradition might be useful in exploring the
mimetic effect in Agaat. Next the appearance and history of the plaasroman and farm
novel in South African literature is considered.
In Chapter One, the novel’s structural elements are examined in greater detail, through a
close analysis of the five different narrative voices of the novel. I suggest that the novel is
an elaborate study of identity and subjectivity which simultaneously uproots questions of
voice and authorship. While the subject matter of the novel and the attention to details of
farming and the physical environment makes it seem a near-historical record and places
Agaat within the genre of the plaasroman, the effect of the different voices of the novel is
to undercut fundamentally any stable narrative authority.
Agaat is nevertheless an incredible compendium of the nitty-gritty of life. In Chapter
Two I explore the manner in which the body and the self are located within a very
particular landscape and setting. How and for what purpose is subjectivity and identity
refracted and articulated through metaphors of space and the experiences of place? In the course of a close reading of the novel, I draw on broadly post-structuralist conceptions of
language, as well as South African critics’ writing on the genre of the plaasroman.
The third and final chapter examines the novel Agaat in translation. Agaat is a deeply
literary novel, drawing on a remarkably wide lexicon of cultural references, suffused with
questions of interpretation and a compelling and complex inquiry of language. The
English translation by Michiel Heyns remains a novel of and about Afrikaans. Quite how
this is achieved raises questions of translation pertaining both to the ‘postcolonial’, if one
reads South Africa as such, and to the specifically local. To this end, a brief context to
translation and language politics within the ‘postcolonial’ and South Africa is considered,
before engaging in a closer examination of the techniques by which Agaat was translated
from Afrikaans into English. I conclude with remarks regarding the success of the
translation into English and suggest that the translation is masterful but that its most
striking characteristics depend on a local South African reader. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis behels ‘n noukeurige studie van die roman Agaat (2004) deur die Suid-
Afrikaanse skrywer Marlene van Niekerk. Die klem val deurgaans op die konstruksie van
identiteit en subjektwiteit, en die roman word beskou as ‘n reaksie teen, maar ook ‘n
uitbouing van die tradisies van Realisme en die Suid-Afrikaanse plaasroman/“farm
novel”. Die primêre teks vir hierdie ondersoek is Michiel Heyns se Engelse vertaling van
die roman (2006), wat verdere vrae rondom taal en interpretasie laat ontstaan. Sodanige
vrae is alreeds implisiet in die narratief gesetel en verskaf ‘n indringende lens waardeur
die roman in sy geheel gelees kan word.
In die Inleiding gee ek ‘n kort oorsig van die verhaalloop, wat ook dien as ‘n
bekendstelling van die roman se temas en die linguistieke kompleksiteite wat ontstaan as
‘n gevolg van die roman se struktuur. ‘n Beskrywing van Realisme in die roman volg,
waarin ek suggereer dat ‘n beskouing van die tradisie van Realisme nuttig kan wees vir ‘n verkenning van die mimetiese effek in Agaat. Volgende word die verskyning en
geskiedenis van die plaasroman en “farm novel” in Suid-Afrikaanse literatuur bekyk.
In Hoofstuk Een word die strukturele elemente van die roman in groter detail beskou deur
middel van ‘n noukeurige analise van die vyf verskillende narratiewe stemme in die
roman. Ek stel voor dat die roman ‘n verwikkelde studie van identiteit en subjektwiteit is,
wat terselfdetyd ook sekere vrae rondom stem en outeurskap ontbloot. Die onderwerp
van die roman en die aandag wat dit skenk aan noukeurige beskrywings van boerdery en
die landelike omgewing skep die indruk van ‘n historiese rekord en situeer Agaat in die
genre van die plaasroman, maar die effek van die verskillende stemme is dat enige
stabiele narratiewe outoriteit op deurslaggewende wyse ondermyn word.
Desondanks bly Agaat ‘n indrukwekkende kompendium van die materiële aspekte van
die lewe. In Hoofstuk Twee verken ek die manier waarop die liggaam en die self gesetel
is binne ‘n baie spesifieke landskap en ligging. Hoe en om watter rede word
subjektiwiteit en identiteit versplinter en geartikuleer deur middel van metafore van
spasie en die ervaring van plek? Deur die loop van ‘n noukeurige lees van die roman
betrek ek breedvoerig sekere post-strukturele gedagtes oor taal, asook Suid-Afrikaanse
kritici se beskouings oor die genre van die plaasroman.
Die derde en laaste hoofstuk ondersoek die roman Agaat in vertaling. Agaat is ‘n diep
literêre roman. Dit betrek ‘n merkwaardige verskeidenheid kulturele verwysings en is
deurspek met vrae rondom interpretasie en ‘n indringende en komplekse ondersoek na die
aard van taal. Michiel Heyns se Engelse vertaling bly ‘n roman oor Afrikaans. Presies
hoe dít bewerkstellig word opper sekere vrae oor vertaling wat verwys na die
“postkoloniale”, as mens Suid-Afrika in hierdie lig sou beskou, en ook na die spesifiek
plaaslike. Daarom word ‘n opsommende konteks van vertaling en taalpolitiek in die
“postkoloniale” en in Suid-Afrika belig, voordat die tegniek waardeur Agaat van
Afrikaans na Engels vertaal is, van naderby bekyk word. Ek sluit af met opmerkings oor
die sukses van die vertaling na Engels en stel voor dat die vertaling meesterlik is, maar
dat die mees treffende aspekte daarvan ‘n plaaslike, Suid-Afrikaanse leser vereis.
|
158 |
Patriarchal structures of control and female homosocial relationships in the novels of Charlotte BrontëEllis, Jeanne 03 1900 (has links)
Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In Charlotte Bronte's novels, the importance accorded to female homosocial
relationships - such as friendship and the mother-daughter relationship -
challenges the conventional structure of the Victorian realist novel, in which the
focus of the female protagonist's development is almost exclusively on the
eventual achievement of heterosexual marriage Structurally. heterosexual
marriage at closure re-establishes the status quo that has been threatened or
destabilised during the unfolding of the plot. Yet what Bronte's novels reveal,
is that the status quo thus re-established also confirms patriarchy as a system
in which the bonds between men are consolidated to maintain social, political
and economic power as a male prerogative By contrast, the ideology that
promotes marriage as the sine qua non of women's existence positions women
as rivals and the representation of female homosocial relationships in the
nineteenth-century novel is either relegated to the margins of the text or erased
entirely. In Bronte's novels, the structural relationship between this
conventional displacement of female homosocial relationships and the silencing
and containment of female desire in heterosexual marriage at closure is
consistently explored and subverted.
In an increasingly complex process of rewriting the Victorian novel from
a female perspective, Bronte's novels construct alternative plots that privilege
the representation of female homosocial relationships even as they imitate
conventional plot structure In so doing. the gendering of narrative voice as
female lays claim to a female discourse of desire. which is rooted in female
homosociality and inclusive of lesbian desire. Compulsory (female)
heterosexuality which is exclusively domestic and maternal. IS therefore
challenged by an alternative representation of female desire as defiant of the
ngid categories Imposed by heterosexuality. because it is fiurd and multiple in
Its expression
This thesis explores the process of recuperation through which Bronte
both places the representation of female hornosocial relationships at the centre
of her novels and reveals patriarchal structures of control at work / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In die romans van Charlotte Bronte konfronteer the sentraliteit van vroulike
homososiale verhoudings - soos vriendskap en die moeder-dogter verhouding
- die konvensionele struktuur van die Victoriaanse realistiese roman. Volgens
hierdie konvensionele struktuur is die fokus van die vroulike protagonis se
ontwikkeling bykans uitsluitlik gerig op haar uiteindelike toetrede tot 'n
heteroseksuele huwelik. Struktureel gesproke herstel die heteroseksuele
huwelik by die sluiting van die roman die status quo wat bedreig of
gedestabiliseer is gedurende die ontplooing van die roman. Wat Bronte se
romans egter aan die lig bring, is dat die status quo wat so herstel word, ook
die patriargale sisteem bevestig - waarbinne die bande tussen mans
gekonsolideer word ten einde sosiale politieke en ekonomiese mag as 'n
manlike prerogatief te waarborg Die ideologie wat die huwelik voorhou as die
sine qua non van die vrou se bestaan posisioneer vroue as mededingers, en
hierdeur word die uitbeelding van vroulike homososiale verhoudings in die
negentiende-eeuse roman verskuif na die buitewyke van die teks, of word dit
algeheel uitgewis. In Bronte se romans word die strukturele verwantskap
tussen hierdie konvensionele verplasing van vroulike homososiale verhoudings
en die demping of beheer van vroulike begeerte in die heteroseksuele huwelik
voortdurend in die roman se sluiting ondersoek en ondermyn
In 'n proses wat 'n toenemend ingewikkelde herskrywing van die
Victonaanse roman vanuit 'n vroulike qesiqspunt inhou. stel Bronte se romans
alternatiewc verwikkelinqsplanne saam wat voorrang gee aan die uitbeelding
van vroulike hornososiale verhoudings terwyl hierdie storieplanne
konvensionele struktuurplanne naboots. Ole manier waarop die verteller se
stem so vervroulik word gee uiting aan 'n vroulike diskoers van begeerte wat
gewortel IS In vroulike hornososialiteit en wat lesbiese begeerte insluit
Verpliqte (vroullke) heteroseksualiteit. wat uitsluitlik huislik en moederlik IS,
word dus gekonfronteer deur 'n alternatiewe uitbeeldinq van vroulike begeerte
wat die rigiede kateqoriee opqele deur heteroseksualiteit verwerp en meer
vloeibare en veelsoortiqe vorme van ultdrukklng daarstel
Hierdie tests ondersoek die herstellinqsprcses waardeur Bronte die
uitbeeldinq van vroulike hornososiale verhoudinqs sentraal plaas In haar romans, terwyl sy terselfdertyd die werkswyses van patriargale beheerstrukture
aan die lig bring.
|
159 |
Of discourse and dialogue : the representation of power relationships in selected plays by ShakespeareDu Toit, Seugnet 04 1900 (has links)
Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this thesis I will look at the way in which power relationships are presented in
Shakespeare's dramas, with specific reference to the so-called ''Henriad'', Measure for
Measure and The Tempest. Each play consists of a network of power relationships in
which different forms of power interact on different levels. Different characters in the
above-mentioned plays have access to different forms of power according to their
position within these networks. The way in which the characters interact could also
cause or be influenced by shifts and changes in the networks of power relationships
that occur in the course of the action.
I will use Michel Foucault's theories on the relationship between power,
knowledge and discourse as a guide to my analysis of Measure for Measure. I will
also use selected aspects of Mikhail Bakhtin's theories on language and literature,
with specific references to the concepts of "dialogism" and "heteroglossia" or "manyvoicedness",
as well as his concept of carnival, which implies a temporary inversion
in power relationships in an unofficial festive context, as a guide to my analysis of the
Henriad. I will use a combination of the theories of Foucault and Bakhtin in my
analysis of The Tempest.
I have chosen the terms "discourse" and "dialogue" as key terms in the title of this
thesis not only because they play an important role in the theories of Foucault and
Bakhtin respectively, but also because they play an important role in the analysis and
representation of power relationships. According to Robert Young, Foucault relates
''the organisation of discourse ...to the exercise of power" (10). One could also say
that the power relationships in a society are reflected in the portrayal of a dialogue
between different voices representing different sections of or classes in that society as
in Bakhtin's principles of dialogism. I will explain the overall importance of these
terms in more detail in the Introduction and the other relevant chapters.
In the introductory chapter I will first provide a theoretical background for the
thesis as a whole. Then I will look at the specific theoretical principles that are
relevant to each chapter. In the chapter on the Henriad I will look at the way in which
an alternative perspective on power relations and the role of the king are created by
looking at them from the perspective of Bakhtin's concept of carnival. In the next chapter, I will show how Measure for Measure presents us with an evaluation of
different strategies of power, which I will look at from the perspective of Foucault's
theories on power, knowledge and discourse. In my chapter on The Tempest I will
combine aspects of both theories in my analysis of a play that presents us with a
complex analysis of power relationships as a social phenomenon. In the concluding
chapter I will look at the different perspectives on power relationships that emerged
from my previous chapters and attempt to see what its implications are for the
representation of power relationships in Shakespeare's work and perhaps as a social
phenomenon. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie tesis gaan ek kyk na die wyse waarop magsverhoudinge uit gebeeld
word in Shakespeare se dramas, met spesifieke verwysing na die sogenaamde
"Henriad", Measure for Measure en The Tempest. Elke drama bestaan uit 'n netwerk
van magsverhoudinge waarin verskillende vorme van mag op verskillende vlakke
wisselwerking uitoefen. Verskillende karakters in bogenoemde dramas het toegang
tot verskillende vorme van mag volgens hul posisie in die netwerke. Die manier
waarop die wisselwerking tussen die verskillende karakters plaasvind kan ook
verskuiwings en veranderinge in die netwerk van magsverhoudinge in die loop van
die aksie veroorsaak, of daar deur beïnvloedword.
Ek gaan Michel Foucault se teorieë oor die verhouding tussen mag, kennis en
diskoers as 'n gids tot my analise van Measure for Measure gebruik. Ek gaan ook
uitgesoekte aspekte van Mikhail Bakhtin se teorieë oor taal en literatuur, met
spesifieke verwysing na die konsepte van "dialogisme" en "heteroglossia" of "meerstemmigheid",
sowel as sy konsep van karnaval, wat 'n tydelike ommekeer in
magsverhoudinge in 'n onoffisiële feestelike konteks impliseer, as 'n gids tot my
analise van die Henriad gebruik. Ek sal 'n kombinasie van die teorieë van Foucault
en Bakhtin gebruik in my analise van The Tempest.
Ek het die terme "discourse" en "dialogue" as sleutel terme in die titel van hierdie
tesis gebruik, nie net omdat hulle 'n belangrike rol in die teorieë van Foucault en
Bakhtin onderskeidelik speel nie, maar ook omdat hulle 'n belangrike rol in die
analise en uitbeelding van magsverhoudinge speel. Volgens Robert Young verbind
Foucault die manier waarop diskoers georganiseer word met die uitoefening van mag
(10). Mens kan ook sê dat die magsverhoudinge in 'n gemeenskap gereflekteer word
in die uitbeelding van 'n dialoog tussen verskillende stemme wat verskillende dele
van of klasse in die gemeenskap verteenwoordig soos in Bakhtin se beginsel van
dialogisme. Ek sal die algehele belang van hierdie terme in meer besonderhede
bespreek in die inleidingen die ander relevante hoofstukke verduidelik.
In die inleidende hoofstuk gaan ek eers 'n teoretiese agtergrond vir die tesis as
geheel verskaf Dan sal ek kyk na die spesifieke teoretiese beginsels wat relevant is
tot elke hoofstuk. In die hoofstuk oor die Henriad gaan ek kyk hoe 'n alternatiewe perspektief op magsverhoudinge en die rol van die koning geskep word deur hulle te
beskou van uit die perspektief van Bakhtin se konsep van karnaval. In die volgende
hoofstuk sal ek kyk hoe Measure for Measure 'n evaluasie van verskillende
magsstrategieë aan ons voorlê, waarna ek gaan kyk van uit die perspektief van
Foucault se teorieë oor mag, kennis en diskoers. In my hoofstuk oor The Tempest
gaan ek aspekte van albei die teorieë kombineer in 'n drama wat 'n komplekse analise
van magsverhoudinge as 'n sosiale verskynsel aan ons voorln sosiale verskynsel aan
ons voorlê. In die laaste hoofstuk gaan ek kyk na die verskillende perspektiewe op
magsverhoudinge wat voortspruit uit die voorafgaande hoofstukke en kyk wat die
implikasie daarvan vir die uitbeelding van magsverhoudinge in Shakespeare se werk
en as 'n sosiale verskynsel is.
|
160 |
New media English literature : a product re-launchJames, Ryan 12 1900 (has links)
Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In the recent past, the large-scale production and marketing of e-reading devices, such as Amazon’s Kindle, and tablet computers, such as Apple’s iPad, have allowed literary works to be presented in a digital reading space, both in the form of standard e-books and, more recently, as enhanced or “amplified” e-books. Much of the position-taking on the matter is polarised: technologists continue to imagine the myriad possibilities of multimodal online “stories”, focusing on opportunities for interactive engagement, while the guardians of literary tradition fear the digital reading space might well cause fluency disruptions and break the hermeneutic immersion necessary for strong reading, irrevocably altering a traditional, paper-based reading experience known to promote a state of deep attention and imaginatively engaged reading. This thesis looks realistically at the current literary climate in which the so-called “digital native” operates, scrutinises the “print” versus “electronic” debate, paying careful attention to how an online environment may well prevent hermeneutic immersion, and then discusses recent enhanced literary products, such as the transmedia fiction title, Chopsticks (Penguin Group USA 2012), and the nonfiction titles released by online publisher Atavist. Then, in an attempt to bridge the gap between the technologists and the print-book purists, and based on what might be considered to be literature’s original value, the thesis proposes a digital reading product in which a formalised set of conventions and a strategic instructional design, or interface, attempts to protect the qualities of traditional, paper-based reading, while at the same time taking advantage of on-screen, online environments to reconnect digital natives with the relevance of past literatures. More specifically, the product presented herein is an attempt to demonstrate 1) how a new aesthetic of literary presentation might stimulate renewed interest in the humanities and liberal arts; 2) how fiction might be reinstated as one of the central components in the education process; 3) how works of fiction that have become increasingly obscure over time or inaccessible to young people might be re-energised; and 4) how what one might call “local” literatures might be “de-parochialised” within an increasingly globalised reading environment. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die produksie en bemarking op groot skaal van e-lesers soos Amazon se Kindle en tabletvormige rekenaars soos Apple se iPad het dit moontlik gemaak om letterkunde in ’n digitale ruimte aan te bied, hetsy in die vorm van e-boeke, of (meer onlangs) in versterkte en “aangevulde” e-boek vorm. Meningsvorming rondom die letterkundige toepaslikheid van e-boeke is sterk gepolariseerd: tegnoloë sien net die magdom moontlikhede raak wat multi-modale aanlyn stories en interaktiewe betrokkenheid inhou, terwyl tradisionele literêre kurators vrese koester oor hoe die digitale leesruimte inbreuk sal maak op die vloei en hermeneutiese onderdompeling nodig vir ’n grondige leeservaring; dit, meen hulle, sal dan ook lei tot die onherroeplike verlies van diep en verbeeldingryke aandag, eienskappe wat lees op papier veronderstel is om mee te bring. Hierdie proefskrif werp ’n realistiese blik op die huidige literêre klimaat, veral die omstandighede waarin die sogenaamde “digital native” deesdae funksioneer. Die debat rondom gedrukte teenoor elektroniese boeke word noukeurig ondersoek, veral met betrekking tot die mate waarin aanlyn lees dalk wel hermeneutiese onderdompeling onderdruk. Verder word versterkte literêre produkte soos die transmedia fiksie titel, Chopsticks (Penguin Group USA 2012), en nie-fiksie titels deur aanlyn-uitgewer Atavist, noukeurig bekyk. Voorts, in ’n poging om die gaping tussen tegnoloë en gedrukte-boek puriste te oorbrug, en op grond van wat mens die oer-waarde van letterkunde dalk kan noem, stel hierdie proefskrif ’n digitale leesproduk voor met ’n geformaliseerde stel konvensies en ’n strategiese instruksionele ontwerp, of koppelvlak (‘interface’). Dit word gedoen in ’n poging om die eienskappe van tradisionele, ‘papier’ lees te behou, maar terselfdetyd voordeel te trek uit die aanlyn-omgewing, en om sodoende die ‘digitale inboorling’ te herenig met die relevansie van vervloë letterkunde. Hierdie voorgestelde produk, dan, is meer spesifiek ’n poging om te wys 1) hoe ’n nuwe literêr-digitale aanbiedingsestetika hernieude belangstelling in die geesteswetenskappe en liberale kunste kan werk; 2) hoe fiksie weer ingestel kan word as kern-komponent in die opvoedingsproses; 3) hoe nuwe energie verleen kan word aan fiksie wat toenemend onbekend of ontoeganklik vir jongmense word; en 4) hoe die Suid-Afrikaanse letterkunde opgehef kan word binne die opset van ’n toenemend-globale leesomgewing.
|
Page generated in 0.0536 seconds